Nothing Short Of Amazed
I have to admit, when I got the idea for the T21 Travelling Afghan, I was thinking it would be something fun to do. I enjoy seeing the numerous pictures of children with Down Syndrome on their family blogs and I thought it would be neat to tie them together with a common strand through the afghan.
What I wasn't anticipating was the huge response. We have families from all over the United States, Germany and Canada. Two families are also interested in sending the afghan to a parent serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan to involve them in the project. One is bringing the afghan to her child's Down Syndrome group to get a picture of ALL the kids with the afghan.
What started out as something "neat" and "exciting" has taken on meaning. It's taken on a sense of importance beyond entertainment.
I receive numerous emails a day from families who want to participate telling me what this project means to them. And I want to invite everyone to leave a comment regarding what this project means to you.
Why is it important to your family, or to the Down Syndrome community as a whole? What do you want to see accomplished by the project?
Comments are open folks!
21 comments:
OMG - that is so so neat! I am absolutely thrilled! It really seems the world is so little .... brings us all closer together! Thanks for your big engagement! You already made a difference!
OMG - that is so so neat! I am absolutely thrilled! It really seems the world is so little .... brings us all closer together! Thanks for your big engagement! You already made a difference!
The afghan, to me, makes me feel like i am apart of a great big community...all of us under one blanket with something in common and also something that will make a difference!
I am super excited for this. I just think it will be fantastic to see pics of other downs kids with the afgan and then have pics of my own child with it. Something to connect us all together.
I too see it as a way to feel connected. All tucked under our "Down" comforter. I look forward to seeing the afghan and the pictures. So fun!
Honestly, I don't know that I had any great expectations, I just loved the idea. I'm looking forward to reading all the journal entries as the afghan travels the world. I can't wait to see it! However, I love the idea of taking it to the local group. I may have to see if I can do that as well.
The Afghan represents the family of families we all join when have a child or loved one with Down Syndrome. I can't think of a cozier, home-ier item to send to family members across the world.
No big expectations here. Just wanted to be a part of something that was bigger than myself and yet touched so close to home. I, too, had thought about carrying it to our local meeting if the timing is good. We'll see how that works out.
Jan
An inanimate object that represents so much more.Connections,no matter who we are or where we live.I so look forward to seeing where it travels and meeting all the families that have chosen to part of this really incredible experience.
It makes the big wide world feel so small and cozy! I love the "down" comforter comment!
Wow!!! For me it means we belong to something bigger than ourselves.
We live in a very small town and everyday it bothers me that I don't see another person with Down syndrome. I know that my Miss T isn't the only one in our county cause I have met them in person! What is interesting is once I acknowledged this feeling I started to see ssoooo many more little ones and teens. There is a young man that works at the grocery store. I saw a little girl with her Mom going into a building. Oh I have to admit I AM A DS STALKER... I followed a woman with a baby boy in a frontpack in Walmart. I got brave to give her my email and phone number..true story.
It was the holidays and they were visiting family but she was excited too. I just went up to her and said Hi your little one is so beautiful. she said thank you and so is yours...Then I said I think we have something a bit more in common then cute babies ;) She smiled huge and laughed and said "Yes I think you are right, thank you for talking to me". I was a bit afraid, I told her, that she would call the walmart security on me for stalking her... she laughed and said no that she too had felt that urge to say something but she was too nervous.
Now you have to know that I have never been a stalking type person, but since Miss T has come into my life I am a completely different person and I owe that ALL TO GOD for giving her to me.
We are part of a HUGE family, so I think we should DO things together.
Thanks for doing this and for letting us be a part of it :)
Kim and Miss T
What I learned about having a special needs kid is that I always get connected to other families in a special way. This is a very special community of human beings who takes care for each other. Although I met a lot of them only on the Internet, they became closer friends than the ones around here in the real life. This project, as Conny said, brings us -again- a little closer together. It has a meaning. Thank you so much for the idea and your engagement, it means a lot.
Kim said it best - the family of families. And as I read your post, all I could think was Make a Book!!!! Collect all the photos and all the journal entries, and put it together for future "family" members to encounter when they realize what they've got.
Talk about a Family Album!
Greetings from the Volunteer State! Can't wait to see where it goes and be involved in the project. I also want to include a child in my kindergarten class with Ds.
My husband and I are so excited to be apart of this. Our little guy is only 6 1/2 mths old and this helps us to be a part of something bigger then us. I think it helps us to feel included, understood and supported. I can't wait to get this thing started!!
I like knowing that we're all connected. I saw this on a friends blog today, she says "It's like being in a sorority that you didn't sign up for" but now that I'm in it I don't want to leave.
I just think it's a fun idea and a nice way for families to commemorate their loved one who happens to have an extra chromosome.
For me it means unity and family! We are all tied by this wonderful blessing of Down syndrome! I would love for it to give us a more personal attachment to our bloggy buddies!
I LOVE the idea!! It would be so amazing to see this project in a few year's time!!!
I would love to take part - but being in South Africa (the very tippy tip of the African Continent...) is so far away!! (nevermind that our postal system is about as effective as ice in the dessert... it will get stolen or go missing very quickly...).
Maybe I can add a story to the journal and photoshop the afgan on my little Malakai? LOL!!
I look forward to seeing it travel!
I will be taking the Afghan to our DS group as well for a friday morning drop - in / photo shoot.
I think that this is so important because it will be bringing everyone that much closer together. It's like a thread tying our families together. The Afghan represents that tie or bond. And I think to me it represents the warmth and support that I get from all the families i have met online through this community of bloggers and T21 Mommies! It means the world to me to know there are people here to support us and share in out Journey. What better way to raise a child let alone a child with a disability (DS Ability). It takes a village to raise a child. You are all part of this village. This afghan is the physical connection to that village. It brings the reality of these friends home. It makes all the families i read about online that much more REAL and it gives us all the opportunity to be apart of something much bigger. Perhaps the traveling afghan will never stop traveling. Wouldn't that be wonderful. Traveling forever, helping and cuddling families with T21. Look what you started!!
And we all get to be apart of it.
Honored and excited in Canada!
To me, the travelling afghan will show, that people with DS are connected and included. And I expect that the pictures will show that all of them are different, no one is like the other.
Thank you for your idea and engagement!
Sanne.
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